Castro’s terror tactics are unfathomable for those of us without a clue

No matter how much you hear or read from afar about repression in Cuba, it is impossible to place yourselves in the shoes of those brave Cubans who daily hit the streets to challenge the Castro regime and to demand change for their country. It is impossible to fathom what it is like to know that when you do go outside to hold a sign or yell a slogan, the security forces and their goons will greet with harassment, beatings and arrests.

Cuban activist Jorge Luis Perez Garcia Perez, or “Antunez,” and his wife Yris are well familiar with that feeling. A political prisoner for more than 17 years, Antunez has been arrested and beaten many times, and yet he persist in his uncompromising campaign for freedom. And so has Yris.

Last year, the couple took advantage of a so-called “reform” implemented by the dictator Raul Castro and traveled overseas to the United States, Europe and Asia. Each stop was a chance to rally support for the cause and to reveal to those they met the character of the opposition to the Castro regime. I had the privilege of meeting and hearing them speak several times.